1st Edition

The Scale-Up Effect in Early Childhood and Public Policy Why Interventions Lose Impact at Scale and What We Can Do About It

Edited By John List, Dana Suskind, Lauren Supplee Copyright 2021
    452 Pages 15 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    452 Pages 15 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    This critical volume combines theoretical and empirical work across disciplines to explore what threatens scalability—and what enables it—in the early childhood field. Authors and editors provide specific recommendations to help professionals refine and apply the science of scaling in their programs, research, and decision making.

    Written by leading experts in early childhood, economics, psychology, public health, philanthropy, and more, chapters and commentaries shine light on how to effectively use experimental insights for policy purposes. The result is a comprehensive and forward-thinking guide to the challenges and possibilities of effective scaling in early childhood and beyond.

    Essential reading for researchers, practitioners, funders, and policy makers alike, this book raises vital questions and provides a vision for the long-term journey to scalable evidence.

    1. Failed to Scale: Embracing the Challenge of Scaling in Early Childhood  Part I: The Science of Early Childhood and Complexities of Scaling  2. Early Childhood: The Opportunity to Untap Human Potential  3. How Cognitive Biases Can Undermine Program Scale-Up Decisions  4. How a Behavioral Economic Framework Can Support Scaling of Early Childhood Interventions  5. The Economics of Investing in Early Childhood: Importance of Understanding the Science of Scaling  Part II: The Scale-up Effect: Understanding the Threats to Scalability  Scaling: A Case Study  6. The Science of Using Science: A New Framework for Understanding the Threats to Scaling Evidence-Based Policies  7. When is Evidence Actionable? Assessing Whether a Program is Ready to Scale  8. Studying Properties of the Population: Designing Studies that Mirror Real World Scenarios  9. Fidelity and Properties of the Situation: Challenges and Recommendations  10. Spillovers and Program Evaluation at Scale  Real-world Application and Understanding of the Threats to Scaling: Commentary on Chapters 7, 8, 9, and 10  11. 70 to 700 to 70,000: Lessons from the Jamaica Experiment    12. A Research Agenda Built for Scale  Part III: Charting a Path Forward  13. Designing Programs with an Eye Toward Scaling  14. Accounting for Differences in Population: Predicting Intervention Impact at Scale  15. Sustaining Impact after Scaling Using Data and Continuous Feedback  16. Measurement Built for Scale: Designing and Using Measures of Intervention and Outcome that Facilitate Scaling Up  Commentary: Lessons Learned from Scaling Cost Measurement in Federal Early Care and Education and Evidence-Based Home Visiting Programs  17. Enabling Contexts to Support Scale-Up: Lessons from Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships  18. Embedding Workforce Development into Scaled Innovations to Prevent Declines in Administration Quality  19. Forging Collaborations for Scale: Catalyzing Partnerships Among Policy Makers, Practitioners, Researchers, Funders, and Evidence-to-Policy Organizations  20. Process to Identify Effective Policies to Strengthen the Prenatal-to-Three System of Care  21. Building Political Will  22. Recommendations for Mitigating Threats to Scaling 

     

    Biography

    John A. List is the Kenneth C. Griffin Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at University of Chicago, USA and a Research Associate at the NBER. He is a Founder and Co-Director of the TMW Center for Early Learning + Public Health. List served on the Council of Economic Advisers from 2002 to 2003.

    Dana Suskind is a pediatric otolaryngologist, Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics, and Director of the Pediatric Cochlear Implant Program at University of Chicago, USA. Dr. Suskind is a Founder and Co-Director of the TMW Center for Early Learning + Public Health.

    Lauren H. Supplee is a Senior Program Officer at the William T. Grant Foundation and former Deputy Chief Operating Officer and Senior Scholar in Early Childhood Research at Child Trends.

    "The Scale-Up Effect provides lots of practical advice and points to further resources on how to improve evaluations and policy partnerships to maximize impact at scale. [This book will] provide valuable tools to evaluate pilot programs in a way that gives the best odds for scale-up and then to avoid the major pitfalls in the process of getting to scale."
    -David Evans, Center for Global Development